eShakti

I'm done.  We haven't been fully satisfied with anything we've ordered from eShakti.

First dress (for Maggie) -- Too narrow in the shoulders.  Cannot be worn at all.

Second dress (for me) -- Fits okay but not quite right.  Definitely wearable and attractive.  But really should have a couple of alterations.

Third dress (for Maggie) -- After a long wait, they notified us that they were out of that particular fabric.  They credited us for the dress.

Fourth dress (for Maggie) to replace the third which never came -- We paid for a customized (more modest) neckline than the standard one, but the dress arrived very lowcut, with virtually no cloth in the shoulders.  That results in an ill fit, so that even with a scarf or a tube-top for modesty, the dress falls off her shoulders.  After three weeks of calling, leaving messages, waiting for responses and not getting them, I finally heard back.  They say the dress is exactly what I ordered.

I quit.  If I return the dress at this point, my refund will be too small to purchase another dress without handing over yet more money.  No use trying. 

I thought, with eShakti, I had found a solution to the problem of sewing for Maggie.  Supposedly they have all the information already gathered to customize a dress to a person's measurements.  I thought I would no longer have to create a pattern, sew a mock-up, adjust and build a new pattern, sew another mock-up, and then readjust the pattern before sewing the real dress.  Nope.  Back to the hard way.

Today's Laugh

George delivers wine to liquor stores, grocery stores, and restaurants.  Yesterday he pulled up to the loading dock at the grocery store, right next to the bakery truck.  The delivery man was poking around in the back of the truck, setting aside some boxes to be hoisted onto the dolly.  By the time George had made his deliveries and returned to his truck, the bakery fellow was perched on the edge of the truck bed, thinking about climbing out of the back of his truck and meandering indoors with the first part of his delivery. 

George asks, "So, are you going to get off your buns, or sit around and loaf all day?"

And after I related the tale last night at supper,

witty Maggie pipes up with, "And the bakery 

guy responds, 'Oh, quit your whining.'"

Thank You for Taking Your Kid to Church

You didn't do it to make me happy.  You don't even know me.

You did it because you love Jesus.
And because you love your kid.

But here's the thing.  You took your children to church, even when they were little and it was hard.  You taught them Bible verses and the catechism and hymns.  Now your child is all grown up.  He moved away from home. 

This Sunday somebody's child and her husband were visiting our church.  After communing, she returned to her pew, singing the hymn, even without her hymnal. 

Or there was the time somebody else's child showed up at our church.  He showed up every Sunday, driving an hour to get here.  He knows the liturgy.  He knows the hymns.  He wants to join the congregation.  People wonder, "Where did he come from?" as if it's not quite normal to find 20-somethings rejoicing to come for worship, and having learned those precious words by heart. 

Hey, maybe it's not normal.  But it is good.
And it is encouraging to us old folks.

Psalm 78: Telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord,
And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done.

Matthew 16:  I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.